NEW YORK – Columbia University, in conjunction with the United States Tennis Association (USTA) and the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA), is gearing up to welcome the best tennis players from around the nation to the 2013 USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships. The NIIC will take place November 7-10, 2013.

As the only tournament on the ITA calendar to showcase elite players from every level of college tennis, the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships serves as the culmination of the fall season. Hosted by Columbia, this prestigious event features a 32-player singles draw and a 20-team doubles draw for men and women.

Gaining automatic entry into the tournament are champions from the USTA/ITA Division I Regional Championships held across the country in October, winners of the USTA/ITA National Small College Super Bowl, and the consolation champions, doubles finalists, men's singles quarterfinalists and women's singles semifinalists from the ITA Men’s and Riviera/ITA Women's All-American Championships.

Seedings for the event will be based on pre-season ITA rankings and fall results.

COLUMBIA SELECTIONS The Columbia men’s and women’s tennis teams will be represented by seven student-athletes at the NIIC. On the men’s side, No. 54 Winston Lin was selected to compete in the 32-player singles draw upon winning the 2013 Northeast Regional ITA Singles title. Joining Lin in singles action will be teammate Max Schnur, who was also selected to compete in the doubles draw with partner Ashok Narayana.

The women will be represented by four student-athletes following an all-Columbia final round in both singles and doubles at the 2013 ITA Northeast Regionals.

No. 95 Kanika Vaidya earned 2013 Northeast Regional ITA Singles title by defeating her own teammate in the final, No. 104 Bianca Sanon, who was also selected to compete in this year’s NIIC.

In doubles, the women will be represented by the 2013 Northeast Regional doubles champions, Tina Jiang and Crystal Leung, in addition to the doubles second-place team, Sanon and Vaidya.

For more information on the event, visit the ITA website, or check back here as the event gets closer, for draws and tournament information.